Soeur Kohlert and I had another great week!
We started out the week doing family home evenings with
different families in the ward. I was super impressed with the Boyault family,
a young French couple with two little girls. We talked to them about the
importance of missionary work and sharing the gospel with their friends. Their
nine-year-old daughter smiled and excitingly said, "I always talk to my
friends at school about Jesus. I even talked to my teacher about meeting with the
sister missionaries one time." What!? Soeur Kohlert and I were so
impressed by this little girl’s fearless efforts to share the message of joy
that comes from the gospel with those around her. We can’t do this work without
the members! We, as missionaries, need your help to find those who are ready to
listen!
We did a LOT of finding this week, contacting people and going
door-to-door. It was discouraging at times because we weren’t seeing that instant
success. But I truly was able to see how the Lord was testing our patient and persevering
efforts to make us stronger and more dependent upon Him. We found ourselves
stopping several times throughout the day to pray, and sincerely asked our
Father in Heaven to guide our paths. I know He doesn’t leave us alone when we are
doing His work.
We had a neat experience the other night. After a long night
in the cold, without the chance of finding someone, we headed back into our
apartment. We heard a knock on our door and wondered who it could be. It was
our neighbor, a young mother named Alexandra, whom we had never met before. She
started explaining to us something about the garbage pick-up schedule for the
apartment building and was super nice. At the end, she stopped and said,
"You girls are missionaries, right?" A little surprised, Soeur
Kohlert and I nodded our heads in agreement. She then said, "I am
believing. I have a 10-year-old son who always asks me questions about Jesus and
religion. I do my best to answer his questions, but I am not sure I am always
right in what I say. Maybe you could come over and teach us sometime. I am also
looking for a way to have my son baptized." Needless to say, we were both
so excited!!! We explained that we do family home evenings with members in our
ward and invited her to come with us sometime. She said that she would love
that! Now I know that if we do our best to find people OUTSIDE of the
apartment, the Lord will just start sending golden people to knock on OUR door!
Haha! It should be exciting to teach Alexandra and her son more about the Plan
of Salvation that God has created for us.
We saw the Niamké family again last night! Wow, I am always
so amazed by those kids! The last time we had asked them to read a chapter (2
Nephi) in the Book of Mormon and we checked back with them, they started going
into deep detail about everything they read and remembered! It was incredible!
We did a little activity where we traced each one of the kids' footprints and
labeled them with the 5 principles of the gospel: Faith, Repentance, Baptism,
Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. We then explained how each of
these steps would lead us one day to the Celestial Kingdom. They loved it! We
finished the night by playing a few fun rounds of Ninja. I love that family!
Soeur Kohlert and I have been praying and thinking a lot
about the Josse Family. They have been seeing the sister missionaries since
last summer and have made so much progress, but they are at a point where they
have just seemed to plateau. They love when we come over for lessons and feed
us every time, but the parents are no longer keeping their engagements in the
small and simple things such as prayer, reading the scriptures and coming to
church. We started teaching the kids the simple lessons, but it doesn’t seem to
be helping their family progress. Soeur Kohlert and I both felt a strong
impression that we needed to take a break from seeing this family for a while.
It has been such a tough decision for us but we know that
this will be the thing that pushes this family to search for answers on their
own. It has been hard as well because we have truly grown to love the Josse
family, and want what is best for them. Doing so will require a lot of help
from the Lord, to give us the courage and boldness to express our thoughts and
feelings to this family about the importance of doing the little things and
staying true to their engagements. After so many months of searching for families,
and now feeling the need to drop one, it has been so hard! But I know this
decision truly is inspired and that the Lord will take care of things, even if
we don’t fully understand why He is having us do it.
I know that Christ lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer. My
morning and evening prayers seem to make all the difference in my day. It has
helped me to better know my Heavenly Father and communicate with Him. Continue
to take time throughout your day to offer a sincere prayer to Heavenly Father!
Your day will go so much better … and He truly does listen!
Thank you for your love and support. Have a wonderful week!
Please keep our amis in your prayers!
Soeur Madeline Vance
St. Quentin